20 Feet from Stardom

The story of the people standing about twenty feet behind the person at the front of the stage: backing singers. The film follows the careers of Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, Merry Clayton and their colleagues, showing how many songs we know are in fact remembered through their voices. It is not interested in listing injustices. It is interested in the broken link between talent and fame: most of these women sing better than the people out front and still cannot break through, because of contracts, labels, luck and temperament. The question it asks is what actually decides who becomes a star. The form is classic music documentary: archive, studio sessions and interviews. Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Sting and Stevie Wonder speak too. Its best-known passage is Merry Clayton's performance on the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter, with the raw vocal channel from that session played back in the film. Morgan Neville directed. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014, and Darlene Love answered the win by singing the hymn His Eye is on the Sparrow on the stage. Who it is for: anyone interested in music history and in the unseen side of studio work. Who it is not for: viewers wanting a critical analysis of the industry. The film is largely celebratory and does not press the people responsible very hard.